It’s easy to scare people in films. Put your protagonist in front of a bathroom mirror and have them open it. Then, wait for them to close it and boom! The trouble with this is that it’s terribly cliché. Once you’re prepared for it, the shock is removed. So how do directors successfully frighten today’s more desensitised audience? This article from The Guardian investigates.

All the money in the world does not guarantee a successful and engaging horror film. In fact, some of the best and most terrifying films were filmed on a budget roughly the same as John Goodman’s rider. Here, What Culture looks at ten low-budget triumphs of horror filmmaking.

Captain Spaulding once asked a terrified kid, “Don’t we make ya laugh? Aren’t we fuckin’ funny?” Well, to a lot people, the answer would be no. Clowns have been terrifying people for years. Coulrophobia now affects at least six-billion people (the other billion are clowns) across the world, and although that statistic was entirely made up, a lot of people just downright dislike these creepy non-entertainers, as this article from Smithsonian Mag explores.

The whole point of found-footage horror movies is to create an air of realism. We know that these documentary crews will all die, thus leaving their masterpieces unfinished, and yet we persevere anyway. Good ones are few and far between (Troll-Hunter, The Bay) while terrible ones are ubiquitous (Apollo 18, The Tapes, Atrocious, The Amityville Haunting). Here, Huffington Post looks at some of the more implausible found-footage horror films.

ADAM MILLARD

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